Variations of total T cell and T-lymphocyte subgroups in aged patients

This paper describes the variations of the total T cell and the T-lymphocyte subgroups in 108 aged people.They were divided into 4 groups:Group A,the patients with chronic pulmonary heart disease.Group B,those with malignant tumour;Group C,those with hypertension and Group D,control group.The results obtained by fluoroimmunoassay with OKT series in monoclonal antibodies revealed that the percentages of T_3 and T_4 in Group A and B were significantly lower than those in the control group(P0.01),and the percentages of T_8 in Group A and B were similar to those in the control group,so that the ratios of T_4/T_8 in the patient groups were significantly lower than those in the control group(P0.01).The percentages of T_3 and T_4 in the attacking stage were significantly lower than those in the stable stage of chronic pulmonary heart disease.The results suggest that the abnormal immune regulation may be one of the important factors making the elderly people susceptible to diseases,and that it may be one of the important causes of the severe conditions of the elderly patients.